A number of prior art systems incorporate automated lighting control functions based on input from ambient light or occupancy sensors or electronic timers, but their overall control system implementation does not offer sufficient scale of integrated control, sensor, power, security and lighting management functionality for complex infrastructures nor does it have the ability to incorporate sensory input from items not related to lighting. A lighting control system for a residence is necessarily less complex than one required for a parking garage or an industrial warehouse, but can also be improved by higher levels of system, power, lighting, sensor and control integration.
Some lighting control systems do employ wireless communication and networking, but not at the level of the individual light fixture, and rely instead on wireless control over zones (multiple lights ganged together) of a wired lighting system. This limits the functionality and versatility of said systems because the level of control is more centralized than specific to each independent light fixture. Also the number of channels available for sensors and diagnostics and power management are necessarily limited when a single zone controller is the information bottleneck. For example, lights programmed to a specific illumination during the day, must still be manually or remotely turned to full illumination when insufficient daylight or occupancy or motion is detected locally. Advances in the bandwidth of wireless networking integrated with programmable computer chips make it possible for a lighting fixture or any electrical appliance, such as solar powered parking meters or wellhead monitors in an oil field, to host a multi-functional, networked RF module that accommodates numerous sensors of various types, reacts to their inputs individually or as a network or reports to and receives instructions from remote computers or hand held devices.
Another integration deficiency in simpler lighting control systems is the ability to control the level of illumination locally and specifically. Most lighting control systems only turn lights on or off, and dimming is only actuated manually. Other systems employ manually controlled wired dimmers and some employ wireless control wired dimming of zones, but without wireless dimming control of each fixture based on multiple local sensor input. This general lack of local control limits the ability to manage power usage when an area is unoccupied or illuminated by daylight. Dimming is also not well integrated with motion sensors on individual fixtures or devices to regulate or reduce power consumption when an area is vacant or unused for a length of time. Other systems do not have an individual self-diagnostic capability or the added functionality of analyzing and reporting the power consumption of individual units or RF modules.
Some lighting control systems vary illumination outputs (on/off) based on security system inputs, i.e. when the facility is locked down for the night the security system tells the lighting control system to turn all or most of the lights off. These systems are again controlled from the outside in, and are thereby limited in their versatility and scope. No other lighting system has the ability to actually become a functioning part of a security or fire alarm system rather than simply reacting to signals from these systems.